ANGEL Season Five DVD Collection REVIEW

Continued from previous page... Disc Four: You're Welcome - Episode 12 with commentary by David Fury, Christian Kane and Sarah Thompson Angel's 100th episode was written by David Fury and makes quite a milestone for the series. "I was in a hotel writing this episode before we figured out the story," he admits, "We knew how it began, usually you want to prep with a full script, but we didn't even have a story yet. We knew Corderlia was going to wake up, this was going to be the big confrontation between Angel and Lindsey, but we didn't quite know what." Christian admits his one disappointment, "One thing I was upset about the way the show ended was that Spike never got any redemption towards Lindsey." Always the writer, David replies jokingly, "We'll bring Lindsey back from the dead so Spike can kill him again," There was one scene scripted that was never shot, in which Wesley and Angel are driving to the hospital, setting up Cordelia in bed as a possible vegetable. "But the shock was better of seeing her up and around after a 9-month coma was enough. We just didn't want to tip it too soon. " Working with Charisma was a real treat," admits David. "I hadn't worked with her since Buffy and for her to come back and give the performance she did was wonderful. She looked great and she was as good as I've ever seen her." David also wrote Disharmony from Season 2 so the icing on the cake for him was to have Mercedes back as a regular. There are always a few little fun secrets that commentaries seem to reveal. This was the first time that Sarah and Charisma had worked together. "I got to wear some fun clothes," said Sarah, "This was the episode I got to wear the Manolo Blahniks, real ones!" Manolo Blahniks gave the rights for the show to use them; the studio bought the shoes, Sarah wore them but they were never seen on screen. In Spike's apartment scene with Lindsey, David was using tight camera angles. He explains why due to what the viewer saw in the opening teaser, "Everything is a bit contained, the reason is if I turn around, this is where they found the dead nuns. It's the same set." Christian provided a little piece of his own trivia in that the only two characters from the pilot that are in the series finale are Angel and Lindsey. It was Joss's idea of showing Glenn Quinn (Doyle) in a scene with Angel and Cordelia. "It was a very awkward situation for me and David because we were close to Glenn," reflects Christian. "I didn't know how the fans were going to react to it." David adds, "I think they appreciated it from the standpoint that we were honoring him. That Doyle's not a forgotten piece of this world." It was certainly a nice tribute to Glenn. Sarah humorously reflects on the Eve and Harmony fight scene, "What's funny is, in this slap, Mercedes accidentally hit me one time, because it was all stunt slaps. She was so upset, she was so worried she'd hurt me but it actually worked well for the take because I reacted by really screaming." Christian's newly acquired sword skills allowed for the fantastic fight scene in the underground chamber that took three days of filming. Writer Steve DeKnight wrote the scene with the banter of the previous relationship of Angel and Lindsey. Also, the lasers used in the tunnel were not CGI (computer generated), but real lasers so this was really cool for Chris during filming. The thing that was very important to be aware of was the relationship between Angel and Cordelia. The Season four Cordy wasn't really her, as it was someone using her body, so her return reminds us that she and Angel could have had something more but they never had a chance. This was reflected in Angel and Cordy's good-bye. "This was a very emotional scene for everybody. Both actors were very moved during this and both wept, and I have to say I joined them," David confesses. This was a scene very important to Joss and while David wrote the draft, Joss came in and wrote the beautiful final scene. "Charisma is really loosing it here, these are not acting tears," explains David. The kiss is a tell for the finale lead-in of Power Play that she passed along one vision to Angel. "It's a beautiful farewell to Charisma for the series," David states. Disc Four: A Hole in the World - Episode 15 with commentary by Joss Whedon, Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof Joss opens the commentary by stating, "I thought it'd be really funny to kill Amy. Fred is really fun, but let's have Amy play somebody new, somebody who's regal and scary and different then anything she's gotten to do on the show. The best way to do that of course is to kill her and have her become somebody else." Joss admits her dying scene was a rough one to get through, "I cried man tears when I wrote it, and when I filmed it and when I edited it." Joss was not the only one either. "It was a very upsetting episode," admits Alexis. "That's what we kept saying when we were working on all our scene the day before we shot that," Amy adds, "we kept crying while we were just reading the script. Saying that, 'we're not going to have any tears left,' of course that didn't really hold true." The Wesley/Fred dynamic was not the only one that was intriguing to watch over the course of the season. "We finally found the right girl for Angel," Joss admits. The Spike/Angel dynamic was just as reflective as David and James. The idea was to amp up Angel and Spike's animosity. Take them to the breaking point, so that when Fred, who was so important, that when she died, it would bring them together without even mentioning it. The scene where Gunn is fighting himself in the white room was comprised of J. being filmed twice in two shots. J. had to go back and forth between good and evil Gunn. Joss admits that J. went to a place he had never seen, showing a more serious vulnerability as shown by Sarah in the following scene. "When people are in pain and confused, and strung out, they are much more interesting," admits Joss. In the construction of Drogan, this character whose fear of being asked questions was provided for conviction. Joss originally wanted to bring in Giles who would over answers of absolute on Fred's condition, but they couldn't afford to fly Anthony Head (Giles) back for the episode. The introduction of Drogan would allow the audience to believe what he would say, that Fred could not be saved. Joss confesses to using two stolen references: Illyria, which was the city where Shakespeare's Twelfth Night takes place in and The Deeper Well was an Emmy Lou Harris song from the album Wrecking Ball, about spirituality, but it presented something very mystical about it to Joss and the title fit the episode. "There's a sort of tightening that happens with each scene where you feel it just getting worse and worse and I remember when we were shooting it that that was what kept choking me up," Alexis reflects. "The situation of losing Fred was becoming more and more real and closer." In the days shooting of Fred's death, certainly the most challenging and rewarding for Joss and the actors in regards to accomplishment, it was the final scene with Wesley and Fred. "I remember saying, 'Let's not even do it,' it was the end of the day and you guys had been crying and retching and all sorts of terror and I remember saying if you guys don't have the energy, if you can't go there, let's just save it for tomorrow, and then you guys broke my heart again." Amy admits, "It would have been really hard to start the next day with this." Alexis recalls, "I remember feeling the whole set, the whole crew really supporting us the entire day." In closing Joss admits, "I think it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever filmed." Disc Six: Not Fade Away - Episode 22 with commentary by Jeff Bell "Our plot is very simple," begins Jeff, who directed the series finale and co-wrote it with Joss, "right here at the top we say, we're going to kill these guys and it's just about how we go about doing that. It's not the most complicated Angel we've ever done but there's just so much other back story, other things to pay off that we felt we didn't need a lot of plot, let's just go kill those guys." Setting us the bad guys, Jeff explains they wanted Hamilton, played by Adam Baldwin, to be a little Cary Grant; a little smug, not hard guy, not too sophisticated, just a little charming and looks really good in a suit. The Circle of the Black Thorn however, "There are a lot of things in this episode that we don't make a big deal of that are actually huge," explains Jeff, "like the whole point of this scene is that Angel is getting ready to sign away any chance of being human again. Which has been his quest, not consciously but the subtext of the series has been if Angel plays along he has a chance to be human again. He's willing to give that up for the greater good, of making these guys trust him, of getting close enough to kill them. It's pretty profound." Of course, it was a Joss idea for Angel to sign away his soul. The scenes with Lindsey were shot 6-weeks prior to the finale due to Christian having to go to Hong Kong for a film. "It was a really big deal at the end of episode eight when you see that he was the one pulling the strings behind Spike," explains Jeff. "We also had questions about how we were going to use him, is he in fact trying to kill Angel is he good or bad. Our intention was always to include Lindsey in the mix. We liked the fact that he had gone off to walk the Earth and find himself. What he found out was that he hated Angel. But more important than that was we felt his wanting to be back in Wolfram & Hart, to be a member of the Black Thorn and that was his secret purpose behind this whole thing." Within the story we see how each character would spend their last day. Lorne singing, whose words best reflect where his character would go by the end of the episode; Angel sees his son, Connor; Spike is found drinking at the bar and Gunn, back with Annie, catches up on his neighborhood roots. "When we were shooting that was what kept choking me up. Losing Fred was becoming more and more real." ~ Alexis There were two final scenes shot on the last day of production; Conner and Angel in the coffee shop and the alley finale fight scene. "When we brought Vincent back earlier in the season he just enjoyed playing Connor, the well adjusted son, so much that it because clear to us that he had to come back for the finale." Jeff explains, "And that he would be the one person that Angel wanted to see." One of the things they did this year was make Spike corporeal again. "We really wanted to make sure that his death meant something. Just watching James become part of the team was one of the great pleasures of season five," admits Jeff. In Spike's apartment, in the opening scene of Act three, is the last time most of the actors have a scene together, and Jeff states they are playing it very real. It's the last scene between Lorne and Wesley with Angel. The action is brought up to full throttle in act four when each of Angel's team has their final confrontation with the members of the Black Thorn. This sequence had a total of 77 set-ups for the entire day, a huge undertaking. An interesting scene was with Lorne, who doesn't fight typically, and he had to shoot a gun. He's Mr. Glib, Mr. Funny and his character ended up so sad. There was a lot of talk as to which characters were going to make it, not everyone would. The most meaningful and the most dramatic scene was Wesley and Illyria. "When we decided that Wesley was the character to go, it really came down to because it was emotional. The fact that Illyria finds herself caring so much for Wesley and the call back about Wesley not wanting to be lied to." This was the last scene was Alexis in the show and as typical, Joss wrote the death scene. "You know it was going well, because I looked around and the grips were crying. I think it turned out beautifully," Jeff states. The alley scene was the last thing shot, it was also the same alley used for the Angel/Faith fight scene back in season two. "I don't think it's a cliff hanger. Joss was very clear, these is our guys mid-fight and Angel saying, 'let's go to work' and the point isn't whether they win or lose but what the series has been about, is the fact that these guys would always be fighting. If they won this battle then another battle would come along. It wasn't about whether they lived or died but that they went out fighting," Jeff reflects. "I think it's a great way to end the series. You're going to remember this guy going out in battle, it's Angel so he's probably going to live, but I think it's really powerful." Jeff's final comment was for the people who supported Angel for the last five years, "Thanks for being with us all these years. One of the reasons Angel lasted so long was the fans were so loyal, so thank you." FEATURETTES: Hey Kids! It's Smile Time ~ 7:00 minutes One of the highlights of the season was an episode that was a departure even for the Joss-verse, which involved Angel being mystically turned into a puppet in Smile Time. While concept alone might be enough to turn fans off to the idea, it was an amazing accomplishment of a very talented puppeteering troupe that successfully brought Angel to puppet unlife. This featurette recaps the plot of the episode as it focuses on how Angel and the other puppets interacted with cast and crew via commentary from Ben Edlund, David B., Mike Massa, and several of the puppeteers themselves. Not surprisingly, Joss inspired the story and dedicated to his father who was involved in children programming while Joss was growing up. With every possible demon on Angel why not turn him into a puppet? Certainly a little more adult in dialogue and character based then Sesame Street, David thought the puppeteering was amazing. New sets with no floors were requited and getting the right angled shots were a challenging. But the hardest thing in filming the episode was getting the actors to talk to the puppet and not the puppeteer. For the puppeteer, getting to play the evil side as apposed to cute characters was a fun departure. Angel 100 ~ 5:30 minutes On December 7, 2003 the cast and crew of Angel celebrated a rare television milestone: their 100th episode. The Angel team gathered first for a cake cutting ceremony at Paramount Studios followed by an invitation only party at the Ivar in Hollywood on Jan 24, 2004. Joss Whedon along with David B. Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker, J. August Richards, James Marsters and Charisma Carpenter recap the highlights of the episode. Footage from the press party are also included and it's exciting to see the actors in these candid situations where lines weren't being read and smiles were genuine. Getting to 100 episodes is a big feat; you don't play it as a 100th episode except as a nod to the audience. Angel is a dark and ambitious show, which tries to shine a light on the human condition. "I design these shows to resonate beyond the viewing," says Joss. "I design them to create cults because that's the kind of fiction I love." Angel: Chorography of a Stunt ~ 6:00 minutes An exciting behind the scenes look at what makes Angel an outstanding series, the excellence of its stunt work. Stunt coordinator, Mike Massa (who also makes a great double for David), is joined by Steve DeKnight, David B., and Amy Acker as Mike walks us through a typical day in the life of a stunt man on Angel. Day One begins in downtown L.A. for a 150-foot jump off the side of an office building. Mike would be dropped at nearly 100-miles per hour on a decelerator line. His basic instinct has him hoping the rope doesn't break and that the decelerator stops as he hangs 15-stories while holding glass in his jacket for the effect of breaking through the window when he lands. Without a doubt, his work ethic is tremendous. Day Two finds Mike and Amy at Paramount Studios on Stage 6 in the Fred/Illyria lab. Amy wishes she was more muscular as she worries the viewers won't believe she could fight. But Mike sells the stunt of Illyria sending Angel crashing through the lab office window. An air ram sends Mike over the sarcophagus with 1200 pounds of pressure and into the window; unfortunately this stunt takes its toll on Mike's knee that hits the frame. Only one take was needed. The bar keeps rising on what you want to do and what you can afford to do and yet they continue to go bigger and bigger, and Mike delivers. "Mike Massa, you can't destroy the man, he's just incredible," states Steve. Angel: the Final Season ~ 27:14 minutes Opening with a montage of clips nearly the entire cast contribute to the commentary of recapping episodes and characters, seasonal and episodic arcs beginning with Joss who is followed by David B., Alexis, J., Andy, Steve DeKnight, Amy, James, Mercedes, Sarah, and Jeff Bell. The overall theme for the big season was: can you fight the big corporation from the inside, change it or be changed. Angel has never about stated what is good and what is evil but that most people are in the gray area. Working in 'hell' pulls at each character in more than a few ways. David got to show a lot of sides, comedic and dramatic. The energy contributed with the addition of Spike proved no two people were more different and hated each other so much then he and Angel. Fred comes into her element now having all this power obtained in Wolfram & Hart and dealing with it, and doing what's right. Gunn's seduction as he holds up a mirror and sees what he wanted to be. It's nothing extra that corrupts Gunn, it's just that power in and of itself. Seeing Wesley make his transition from silly to hard core was exciting, "He hasn't lost the intellectual but he's more of a bad ass then he used to be," observes Alexis with a smile. Harmony is the reflection of Cordelia year one; she can't fight her nature, she's evil. "We loved Lindsey, it felt right to get him back and the ending of this characters is one of the best things we ever did, " states Joss. Commenting on specific episodes, Life of the Party showed everyone in their own element and was a hilarious episode for all the actors to film. Destiny offered Angel and Spike the earth shaking events that would ride on their relationship of the Shanshu Prophesy. Drusilla and Angel taught Spike a very harsh lesson about love. The chalice fight scene was the most epic ever shot, according to Joss. Everything had emotion and the fact that they could still go there was exciting. The Girl in Question was a way of saying Buffy has grown up and moved on so maybe Angel and Spike should too. The only way to destroy all the evil is to give up the one thing that kept Angel going all these years, his soul. Your heroes have to die, Angel and Spike, Illyria and Gunn, good times. "I wanted to go out on a statement, you never stop fighting," said Joss. To Live & Die in L.A.: the Best of Angel ~ 8:52 minutes Joss takes us through what made Angel a standout series from its first season to the final episode with special thanks to David Greenwalt and Tim Minear who helped launch the series from it's conception. Angel is about the decisions we make and how we atone for them, you never finish atoning you always fight, that is the most important thing the show says. Joss's favorite thing about the series is sacrificing people. Eternity in Season One was about the characters. "We brought on the pain with true love bringing Buffy back," recalls Joss. Giving Buffy and Angel that one moment and then taking it away with the episode I'll Remember You. In Season Two an memorable story for Joss was Are You Now or Have You Ever Been as it reflected the history of Angel in a mini movie format. Season Three's Waiting in the Wings was Angel version of the Buffy musical. Sleep Tight featured the betrayal of all time when Wesley betrays Angel by kidnapping his infant son. It was an emotionally hardcore episode. Although Season Four was on tight story, there was time for Spin the Bottle, a chance to be silly, while Apocalypse Nowish, was so large it was so much fun for Joss. Magic Bullet, where Fred was the only one to see the evil showed her strength that would later be so evident. Home set everything on its head and made the final statement about Connor and Lilah and turned everything on its ear. Joss's mission statement for Angel was always to engage the audience on a primal level that spoke to them on bigger than life terms. Every episode had that one quality to show how fascinating, strong, week, interesting, resilient people are. Reviewing the best of Angel shows he succeeded. Halos & Horns: Recurring Villainy ~ 9:22 minutes Watch a behind the scenes look at the bad girls of Angel WinMV Hi-speed WinMV Lo-speed Stephanie Romanov, Julie Benz, Christian Kane and a rare Juliet Landau gather in interviews to give commentary on the evil and the dead of the Buffy/Angel universe and why these characters are so rich. The bad guys are always loved, and so it is true for Lilah, Darla and Drusilla. Dru has so many dimensions to her, getting to go to the true villain and the love story character. Coming to L.A. and teaming up with Darla showed her more evil side according to Juliet. It's all rooted in the lore and reality of the show. Julie found it fascinating that when Darla killed herself all the fans turned and loved Darla. She has been in the series since the days of Buffy. Being Lilah, as the villain of Wolfram & Hart, Stephanie got to be in the imagination and not in the real world. You got to do outrageous things, giving the face of evil humor, seduction. Her dynamic chemistry with Christian was a fan favorite. Christian's return depended on one thing, Lindsey wouldn't be beat up by any more chicks. Joss premised him a different character this time around, from a Lawyer to bad boy taking on Angel. Angel leaves television after five years with a great legacy and proved it will stand on its own. Angel Unbound: The Gag Reels ~ 6:11 minutes Watch David Boreanaz joking around on the set WinMV Hi-speed WinMV Lo-speed The final featurette on the DVD set is the gag reel that incorporates a compilation of flubs and goofs from the past five seasons of Angel. The opening title sequence is slightly different then what we're use to seeing, and obviously more humorous. There is of course dancing, then some dancing and even more dancing. More of the bits are misread lines that lead to fits of laughter, especially from Amy. There's Angel ascending up to the roof of a building to gain access, while passing an open window. One clip show Angel checking out a closet, as David finishes the take he notices the very nice women's clothes hanging inside and holds the hanger up to himself checking out the various dresses and blouses. Alexis extends his ballet performance from Waiting in the Wings with a little impromptu striptease. From Pylea there is a scene of David and Amy falling off their horse. David has a little trouble lying on his back and trying not to choke on the blood being poured down his throat as he gags with laughter. Did we mention there was dancing? This trait is even transferred to the Angel puppet who also enjoys dancing between takes. And the final gag is a shot of David and Jenny Mollen (Nina), as she exits his car, he watches from the driver's side, looks towards the camera and smiles coyly. It's all in a days work, after all. Written by CoA Staff Writer, Kristy Bratton Check out our S5 DVD Contest Winners If you have any comments for CityofAngel.com regarding this Review feature, we would love to hear from you. Just email us at: comments@CityofAngel.com

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